For the last ten years we have celebrated the 30th August as
'the popular consultation' day or Referendum Day. The people of
Timor-Leste are truly aligned when it comes to Referendum Day
because this was a truly historic day where the people were able
to free themselves from the Indonesian occupation and this ended
the serious crimes suffered by the people of Timor-Leste.

This year we celebrate Referendum Day together with the
celebration of 100 years since the struggle of Dom Boaventura
who started the revolution against Portuguese Colonization in
1912 in Manufahi.

In addition, on the 30th August Timor-Leste and the
international community in general celebrate this day as the
International Day of the Victims of Forced Disappearances to pay
respect and to value the innocent who disappeared and until now
their whereabouts remain unknown.

Families of the victims are also citizens of Timor-Leste and they have the right
to know if these people are still alive or not. If they are still alive, where
are they now and if they are dead, then where were they buried?

For Timor-Leste, the International Day of the Victims of
Enforced Disappearances is very relevant to what happened in the
past. History shows that we still don't know the whereabouts of
Dom Boaventura who revolted against Portugal in 1912 and a
number of others who disappeared during the struggle for
independence between 1974 and 1999, including the deceased
Nicolau Lobato, David Alex, Daitula Nagafunu, Mauhudu Rankadalak,
because until now we don't know about their fate.

Families of the victims are also citizens of Timor-Leste and
they have the right to know if these people are still alive or
not. If they are still alive, where are they now and if they are
dead, then where were they buried? We consider cases of forced
disappearance to be crimes against humanity that are ongoing
because no information about the missing has been provided to
their families and the people of Timor-Leste in general.

Therefore, on this important day, we, the families of the
victims, civil society organizations, student organizations as
well as individuals who remain concerned with justice, through
the National Alliance for an International Tribunal, deliver our
demands to the following relevant institutions:

1. We ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to follow up
the report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship,
especially in relation to victims of forced disappearances
during the Indonesian occupation in Timor-Leste, so that
cases of forced disappearance can be officially initiated
between the two countries.

2. We ask the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice to
follow up the MOU which was entered into between the
Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice and the Indonesian
National Human Rights Commission to search for those who
disappeared between 1974 -1999, and the findings need to be
provided to the victims, the families of the victims and the
people of Timor-Leste who are the direct victims of the
aforementioned violations.

3. In March 2012, the State of Timor-Leste had its Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva to evaluate the human rights
situation in Timor-Leste, therefore we recommend for the
President as the Head of State together with the government
and the National Parliament to start seeking a mechanism to
sign and ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance in order to ensure that
forced disappearances are not repeated in the future.

4. We ask for the State and the National Parliament to
celebrate the 30th August as the Day for Missing Persons in
every district in order to pay respect to the victims who
lost their lives for this nation and this country.

5. We also ask the Office of the Prosecutor-General of
Timor-Leste to continue to process serious crimes together
with the Serious Crimes Investigation Team (SCIT-UNMIT), to
ensure that there will be no more impunity in Timor-Leste in
the future.

6. We ask the State of Timor-Leste to not obstruct the
serious crimes process at the international level and to
follow up the report of the United Nations Commission of
Experts and the report of the Indonesian National Human
Rights Commission regarding the establishment of an
international tribunal if the national mechanisms do not
have the capacity to provide justice to the people of
Timor-Leste and the victims.